A wee post on The Rest Is Noise led me to a load of great stuff about Stockhauasen's Helicopter String Quartet. Which although first performed in the 90s feels immensely and appealingly of the 70s. It's always teetering on the brink of being a Look Around You-style parody but it's actually rather intriguing.
Stockhausen's notes and description of the composition are fascinating. The score just looks brilliant:
And, judging from this extract, the thing sounds pretty splendid too. I suspect the last 20 years of popular music have rather prepared us for Stockhausen's always changing, resolutely unconventional sound and he doesn't seem as jarring as he might have to previous generations. I'll have to get the CD.
There was a stunning piece of dance at Sadlers Wells a few years ago that used this piece very loudly, a massive mirror and lots of rotating lights to make the most full on evening of dance I have ever experienced. Get the kids listening and watching this rather than the Nutcracker!
Posted by: Julian Barker | December 18, 2006 at 07:16 PM
Just managed to download this off limewire after trying for so long to get it. I Was expecting deep rumbles like ride of the valkyries in apocalypse now, but caught off guard instead and loved the intro. Full on horsepower winding up for takeoff. Just great.
Posted by: Charles Edward Frith | February 27, 2007 at 08:14 PM